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.What kinds of imagery dominate the portraitof the paper mill? How and why is that imagery important?What arguments does Melville s imagery make about indus- The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids 197trialization and its effects on humanity and on society? Suchan investigation should also grapple with the narrator andhis role in the sketch.Why does he travel to the paper mill inthe first place, and how is his reaction to the mill significant?Still further, you need to move beyond an exploration of thesecond part of the work.The first section that chronicles thenarrator s visit to the bachelor s paradise seems far removedfrom the misery of Tartarus, but Melville deliberately yokesthese two apparently disparate sketches together in one work.Is there a relationship between the paradise and the Tartarus?What devices and techniques does Melville use to communi-cate these connections? How does the relationship betweenthe two parts of the text reflect upon Melville s commentaryon industrialism? Does Melville bring issues of social class tobear on his portrait of industrialism?2.Gender: In the largely masculine world of Melville s prose, TheParadise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids provides arare glimpse at women.Given that the world of Melville s proseseems largely centered on men and masculinity, do you believethat The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids canbe fairly assessed as a commentary on women and their placein the world?So many of Melville s prose works are set at sea in a worldthat seems almost exclusively male; generally women seemperipheral to his concerns.Typee s Fayaway, Hunilla from The Encantadas, Lucy and Isabel from Pierre, and the undif-fentiated maids from Tartarus are perhaps the only nota-ble exceptions (and Fayaway, Lucy, and Isabel themselves playsupporting roles).Does this fact alone render suspect anyargument for The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarusof Maids as a sympathetic commentary on women s plight?Some readers have read this work as a sympathetic look at theburdens both biological and industrial of women.Othershave interpreted the work as a rejection of women and femalesexuality.Do you think it is significant that all the women inthis work the maids are undifferentiated? Why? Obviously,198 Bloom s How to Write about Herman Melvilleyou will need to explore the narrator s portrait of these maids.His description is laden with symbolism and figurative lan-guage, and to explore its treatment of gender you will need toexplore the language and imagery closely.Similarly, you willneed to think about the narrator s reactions to both the maidsand the bachelors in some detail.Explore his reactions to thewomen in the mill.Does he seem to react sympathetically?Still further, how does he respond to Old Bach and to Cupid,the two males he meets at the mill? Consider, too, his reac-tions to the bachelors in the first sketch as well as any relation-ship between these bachelors and the maids.3.Production and reproduction: Examine The Paradise ofBachelors and the Tartarus of Maids as a commentary on therelated themes of production and reproduction.How might youread the work as a commentary on reproduction, production, orthe relationship between the two?Clearly, related to both gender and industry, this topic reflectsupon those two themes, and it provides still other directionsfor a thematic study.The title of the work, with its emphasison both the maids and bachelors, seems to bespeak a certainsterility, a failure to reproduce.Do you think that The Para-dise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids is a commentaryon sterility? If so, how and why does Melville develop the ideaof sterility? While the title obviously suggests the importanceof characterization for such an investigation, you should alsoexamine the imagery and language.How does the figurativelanguage develop or enhance Melville s meditation on steril-ity? Through its apparent contrast of bachelors and maids andof paradise and Tartarus, the title of the work also suggests afocus on opposites or opposition.Does the work contain sug-gestions of abundance, reproduction, or fertility that opposethe suggestions of sterility? Where do you see imagery sugges-tive of reproduction or of fertility? How and why is this imag-ery suggestive? How does it allow Melville to expand on thistheme? Be sure to think of the resonance of the word repro-duction
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